VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) — More than 700 aging chickens have been plucked from the jaws of death. A Vacaville animal sanctuary and several humane societies saved the old cluckers from slaughter after the new owner of a former egg farm reported not knowing what to do with the birds he inadvertently purchased along with the property.

Rescuers hope to find good homes for the hens, which are past their egg-laying primes.

"This is the first rescue of this magnitude I'm aware of in California," said Cindy Machado, animal services director for the Marin Humane Society.

The developer who purchased the Vacaville land that used to house the egg farm contacted the groups to see if they could find homes for the healthiest chickens. The new owner was dismayed to learn that the chickens were still roosting there and planned to kill most of them.

While the hundreds of hens spared death is paltry compared with the number of scrawny white leghorn chickens routinely slaughtered once they stop producing eggs, the rescue groups were happy to have saved some.

Most of the birds never have seen sunlight, but they are expected to adjust to life away from the farm. Unaccustomed to the spacious surroundings of the animal sanctuary, some still sleep on top of each other.

"These birds were born in incubators and put in cages about double the size floor space of a record album," said Kim Sturla, director of The Animal Place, a rescue group.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

Years ago I found an old hen for sale at the Amish market in Laurel, Maryland as a "stewing hen." If you let a chicken grow for more than a couple of months, it looks like it's been on steroids to those of us used to what comes out of the factory.

I bought the stewing chicken of course because I am something of a good amateur cook, and the speciality known as coq au vin is really quite easy to make (in fact, there are details in the traditional recipe that I routinely modify). The French farm wife would have used a rooster and thickened the stew with its blood. Even the Amish cannot produce exactly this for their markets, though I bet they could at home if they had enough sense to cook with wine (sorry).

There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.
-- Johann Sebastian Bach

jbuck919 wrote:Years ago I found an old hen for sale at the Amish market in Laurel, Maryland as a "stewing hen." If you let a chicken grow for more than a couple of months, it looks like it's been on steroids to those of us used to what comes out of the factory.

I bought the stewing chicken of course because I am something of a good amateur cook, and the speciality known as coq au vin is really quite easy to make (in fact, there are details in the traditional recipe that I routinely modify). The French farm wife would have used a rooster and thickened the stew with its blood. Even the Amish cannot produce exactly this for their markets, though I bet they could at home if they had enough sense to cook with wine (sorry).

*****

Right, but the community dining tables in restaurants in Amish Country (Lancaster County, PA) are fun and the food is great. Those biscuits...

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."